Thomson Reuters Expands Trading Network in the Middle East as EFG-Hermes Signs On

Global traders to access new liquidity pools by routing orders through EFG-Hermes

Dubai/Cairo - Thomson Reuters today announced that the largest regional investment bank in the Middle East and North Africa, EFG-Hermes has joined its order routing network, expanding the breadth of its exchange trading offering throughout the region. As the Arab world’s leading investment bank, EFG-Hermes brings a vast network and access to liquidity pools across the main markets in the Middle East, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE to Thomson Reuters global client base.

This move builds on Thomson Reuters strong regional assets, which include multi-asset trading capabilities, deep market leading content, news and analytics. It also supports the increasing movement of mainstream and foreign investors into Middle Eastern markets and Islamic finance.

Financial market professionals using Reuters Trading for Exchanges can now route orders to EFG-Hermes for execution. EFG-Hermes builds on Thomson Reuters strong brokerage network and raises the number of regional brokers to 37. Any firm connected to the Thomson Reuters order routing network, both inside and outside the region, can now access liquidity from the largest markets in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, including EGX, Tadawul, KSE, DFM, DIFX, ADX, Nasdaq Dubai, and MSM - all via EFG-Hermes.

Sherif Cararah, EFG-Hermes Securities Brokerage Managing Director, commented: “Joining the vast Thomson Reuters brokerage network will not just result in new trades for the firm — it will also give EFG-Hermes’ clients around the globe unrivaled access to markets within the region. We’re delighted to be partnering with a leading group such as Thomson Reuters and we see this as a further evidence of our long term commitment to providing value-added brokerage services.”

EFG-Hermes is the MENA leader in value-added brokerage services, having executed more trades in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last year than any other brokerage, according to recently released exchange data. The firm was also the most active independent broker in Saudi Arabia and the third-largest broker in both Oman and Kuwait, markets in which EFG-Hermes established a physical presence for the first time in 2008.

Basil Moftah, Managing Director for Thomson Reuters in the Middle East and Africa, commented: “Thomson Reuters is committed to supporting the expansion of the financial markets in the Middle East. We’re pleased to have such a prestigious and respected institution like EFG-Hermes to support this aim as well as broaden our service. Thomson Reuters plans to continue to support this growing region by adding more specialized content and additional trading capabilities.”

Reuters Trading for Exchanges is available to users of Reuters 3000 Xtra. It provides access to the joint global community of Tradeweb Routing Network and Reuters Order Routing Network, comprising over 1,000 participants worldwide and processing in excess of 1.5 billion shares per day.

Thomson Reuters has a long standing presence in the Middle East and Africa, having opened its first office outside Europe in Alexandria in 1865. The company provides comprehensive coverage of MEA markets including real-time information from all major equity markets, funds, indices and money markets. Customers can access data on sukuk bonds, Islamic loans and other Islamic instruments, plus strong regional news coverage including an Arabic news service. Thomson Reuters also offers broad trading capabilities for listed instruments as well as FX and money markets.